Use It on Monday

When You Lose Sight of the Finish Line

May 12, 2014 By Michelle 12 Comments

Marathon runners with motion blur Twenty years ago I ran my first and only marathon. I trained hard. I ran the twisty, hilly roads of New England for months, building strength and endurance, increasing my mileage bit by bit. When race day came I was ready.

Or so I thought.

The race didn’t go as I’d planned. It was unnaturally hot that October day. Around mile 15, as the temperature soared into the mid-eighties, my energy began to flag. By mile 18 I was dehydrated, breathing heavily and stumbling. My head throbbed to the beat of every step upon the pavement; my lower back seared; my stomach churned and lurched. I could not for the life of me imagine running eight more miles. I could not for the life of me imagine running eight more feet.

I made it to mile 25 of the 26.2-mile race, and then I gave up. I spotted a first aid tent at the side of the road and pitched myself onto a cot. One mile from the finish line, I quit.

I did a lot of things wrong in that race. I didn’t drink nearly enough water. I started out too fast. I walked when I simply should have slowed my pace. But my biggest mistake by far was that I lost my focus.

I was so distracted by my pain and suffering and the relentless journey ahead, I lost sight of the goal. I didn’t keep my sights and my mind set on the finish line.

It’s pretty easy for me to roll along all faith-full and Jesus-focused when life is going well. But when things start to get a little ugly? When disease descends or someone I love dies or the kids are driving me bananas or my dream splinters into shards at my feet – when the journey doesn’t turn out as I had desired or expected? That’s when I struggle to keep my focus on God.

Distracted by my pain and suffering, my disappointment and frustration, I lose sight of the goal. I’m thirsty, tired, worn-out, discouraged. My vision blurs, my focus turns inward and I lose sight of God in the midst of the tumult. I want to quit.

Notice what the writer of Hebrews tells us. “Run with endurance the race God has set before us,” he urges. But he doesn’t simply leave us with that vague directive; he goes on to tell us exactly how to run that kind of race:

“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)

It’s not easy. Life throws us curveballs; our plans don’t fall into place as we imagined or anticipated. But focusing on that which trips us up – pain, grief, anger, sickness, suffering – instead of on Jesus, the perfecter of our faith, makes the journey that much more difficult.

Twenty years ago I lay on a cot in the shade of the first aid tent as the marathon runners rounded the last corner and turned toward the final stretch. I sipped water and nibbled a cracker, and as the minutes ticked past, my befuddled brain began to clear. I could almost see the finish line from where I lay. I was barely more than a mile from completing the race.

And so, with the goal clearly in sight once again, I set down my plastic cup, stood up and brushed the saltine crumbs from my lap. And then I took a deep breath, stepped off the curb and finished the race.

Linking up with Kelli’s Monday community, Unforced Rhythms.

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: A New Season, A New Beginning

April 28, 2014 By Michelle 18 Comments

egginnest

Three years ago I launched the “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday” link-up community with much trepidation. I held my breath as I hit the publish button, and then watched in awe and joy as bloggers slowly began to link-up their own stories of living out God’s Word in the everyday. That first week 17 bloggers shared their posts in community here, and since then the community has grown to between 50 and 70 bloggers each week.

Today marks the end of one season and the birth of a new one as I joyfully hand this link-up community over to a writer I deeply admire. Beginning next Monday Kelli Woodford will take this beautiful link-up community and make it her own.

I admit, it’s a bittersweet moment for me. I’ve come to know so many of you through the Hear It, Use It link-up, and I have loved reading your stories over the years. You have taught me so much about God and the myriad, amazing ways he works within every last detail of our lives.

Yet I also know it’s time. I haven’t been able to connect with you as much as I would have liked in the last year. I haven’t had the time to read your carefully crafted stories and offer the encouragement and friendship you deserve. And so it feels right to hand this community over to someone who can and will do that.

Kelli Woodford has been a faithful contributor to the Hear It, Use It link-up for a while now. She is a beautiful storyteller and a generous, gracious person with a beautiful heart and a love for God that shines through her each and every word. I know you will be in good hands!

Hop over to Kelli’s place today to introduce yourself and say hi – she’ll tell you a bit more about the vision she has for the community going forward.

Thank you, friends, for being a community to me, for being the living, breathing Body of Christ right here in this crazy blogosphere. I am hugely grateful.

And so…one last time…

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Heaven Starts Here

April 21, 2014 By Michelle 14 Comments

This is the last of six weeks of Monday Lenten reflections. I hope you’ve enjoyed as much peace on these Mondays as I have. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

No longer will there be a curse on anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there – no need for lamps and sun – for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

GrandTetonRiver

As Christians we tend to focus on heaven. We like to think about what eternal life with God in a heavenly realm might be like, who we might meet there, how we might spend our time. Sometimes we even find ourselves yearning for that heavenly peace and rest. We look to heaven as an escape from our present difficulties – a place and time when we will be free from pain, grief, loneliness and suffering. “No longer will there be a curse on anything,” John prophecies in Revelation, and we admit that it all sounds rather lovely.

In focusing our sights on heaven, though, we miss an important part of Jesus’ command for us while we are here on Earth. Remember how Jesus instructed us to pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” Jesus intended that his kingdom begin on this Earth, not only in heaven alone.

The truth is, Jesus came down to Earth in human form and sacrificed himself so that we could live free from sin and death. Through his love we are resurrected with him, and we will spend eternal life with him. As these verses from Revelation predict, someday we will see God face-to-face; someday we will live free of evil, despair and darkness.

Nevertheless, this does not diminish the fact that each of us has an important role to play in bringing God’s kingdom to Earth while we are here. We cannot overlook the fact that we can and will see God’s face here on Earth – perhaps not as clearly as we will in heaven, but here and now nonetheless, in the faces of our loved ones, our neighbors, the man on the street.

Our job is to seek God’s face right where we are and help bring his kingdom to Earth.

Heaven begins right here, right now, with us.

Today I celebrate your glory, Lord Jesus. Today I celebrate that you and you alone have the power to free me from sin and death. Today I celebrate your love for me, a love so broad and so deep that nothing can ever diminish it. And today I also thank you, Lord, for trusting me as your servant. May I do your will in your kingdom come on Earth. Amen.

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Welcome to the Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word each week. If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information.

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Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: God Sees Us Through

April 14, 2014 By Michelle 18 Comments

We are enjoying a bit of Lenten quiet on Mondays here until Easter. I’m posting a verse, a devotion and a prayer. Peace and grace, friends…

pussywillow

“O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death. Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name!” (Psalm 30:2-4)

Sometimes we take passages like these a little too literally. We read a verse like, “I cried to you for help, and you restored my health,” and we think, “My health isn’t completely restored; I’m not completely cured – why didn’t God answer my prayer?” We begin to doubt God, or feel like he has abandoned us because our lives and circumstances don’t seem to accurately reflect what we read in Scripture.

The fact is, God might not cure all of our ills, even when we ask him to. But what He will always do is give us hope, peace and even joy in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, if we let him. Our faith in God keeps us from careening into the pit of despair. Our faith in God keeps us steady, allowing us to walk forward in holy confidence knowing that no matter what the outcome, he will be with us.

This is indeed reason for singing and holy praise because we know, as this psalm says, that while “weeping may last through the night, joy comes with the morning.” (30:5) He will see us through.

Lord, sometimes my grief and suffering feel like more than I can bear. Sometimes I doubt your presence and wonder where you are amid the trials. Thank you for this psalm today, Lord – a reminder that you are always here, working to restore me, lifting me up from the pit of despair and loving me. Amen.

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Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: From Far to Near

April 7, 2014 By Michelle 14 Comments

We are enjoying a bit of Lenten quiet on Mondays here until Easter. I’m posting a verse, a devotion and a prayer. Peace and grace, friends…

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. (Ephesians 2:13-4)

Some of you may remember the day the Berlin Wall was torn down in November 1989. Constant news coverage depicted thousands of people with sledgehammers and axes as they crumbled the wall bit by bit, destroying a barrier that had stood between East and West Germany for nearly 30 years. It was a monumental occasion and a cause for celebration, not only in Germany but around the entire world. In place of the wall, a symbol of hostility and war, stood a group of disparate people now united in freedom.

The amazing, mind-boggling, awesome power of Christ has the capacity to do something similar among us, his people. It’s true, Christ’s death on the cross brought us closer to God as individuals, demolishing the barrier (sin) that kept us at arm’s length from him. But even more important and powerful is the freedom his love and life give us as a people united in the Body of Christ.

Christ didn’t unite just the Jews and Gentiles, he unites all of us, every last person on Earth. We are called by him to love his people, and no one is excluded, regardless of race, lifestyle or faith. There are no barriers, no separation – Christ’s love demolishes all hostilities and all walls.

So today, let’s celebrate the power of God’s love to free us and unite us together in peace. Let’s celebrate the God who makes all things possible.

Lord, you know where and against whom my hostilities are aimed. Give me the strength and humility to cross these barriers to unite with your people in peace. Amen.

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Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

Use It on Monday

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